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Racial slurs shared by GL Tech students raise eyebrows

By Kori Tuitt, ktuitt@lowellsun.com

Updated:
05/30/2017 06:35:51 AM EDT

TYNGSBORO -- While scrolling through her Twitter feed recently, a former Lowell resident was shocked to see screen shots of a number of posts where the "N-word" was used liberally on Facebook in comments and memes.

Syra Aburto, 22, saw the posts were shared and defended by Greater Lowell Technical High School students.

One meme featured a black man wearing a watermelon on his head with text saying, "King n***er is not amused." Another showed what appears to be a white man whose face has been distorted through editing with text saying, "I smell n***ers."

"I personally, feel as though this is a symptom of a bigger disease that we have in the Merrimack Valley education system to ignore racial transgressions until they become so egregious that we simply can no longer turn a blind eye," Aburto told The Sun.

Although both variations of the word can be considered offensive, these comments were made using the N-word ending in "-er."

Aburto lived in Lowell for 18 years and attended Dracut High School before moving to New York. Aburto, who is black and Hispanic, reached out to several administrators at Greater Lowell Technical High School expressing her concern in an email.

"We are aware of the social media posts and take them very seriously," GLTHS Superintendent-Director Roger Bourgeois said in an email. "As you may be aware, student confidentiality laws and regulation do not allow me to comment."

In the comments, students defended their use of the word, by saying it was simply that -- just a word.

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One student went as far to type the word dozens of times in one comment "just to offend everyone."

This incident is different from a 2015 incident at Lowell High School where students used the N-word and other offensive language to target a student. The six Lowell High students' comments were in response to a black student, Anye Nkimbeng, being elected senior class president. The comments included "Rule out blacks and #MakeLHSgreatagain" and "F**** black people."

Lowell High addressed the issue by creating a Cultural Competency Task Force to hear concerns of students of color. The district also included $30,000 in its annual school budget to be used for outreach efforts to diversify teaching staff at the high school. But few teachers of color have been hired, according to data compiled by the Lowell school system.

Bourgeois said the administration is disappointed to find out that a few GLTHS students "expressed disrespectful comments outside of school." He said Greater Lowell Tech emphasizes the importance of mutual respect among its diverse student population as part of its core values.

According to state statistics for the 2016-2017 school year, 44.3 percent of GLTHS students are white, 31.8 percent are Hispanic, 16.4 percent are Asian, 3.4 percent are black, 3.6 percent are multi-race, non-Hispanic, and 0.5 percent are Native American.

"We expect parents to provide reinforcement of these democratic principles at home," Bourgeois said. "Having said that, the U.S. Constitution and Massachusetts law afford students the right of free expression in school and off campus. Such expression can include ideas that we find abhorrent, offensive, and fundamentally at odds with our school mission and culture."

Bourgeois went on to say that if expression, like the one in this case, causes or is likely to cause significant disruption in the school or infringes on the rights of others, then the school district would have the authority to restrict such speech.

"We enforce the expectations in our student handbook in accordance with these principles," he said.

The GLTHS 2016-2017 Student Handbook emphasizes five values of the school: respect, effort, accountability, commitment and honesty (R.E.A.C.H.). The handbook states that offensive and profane language or gestures are not tolerated on school grounds and could result in detention and or suspension. Under the Code of Conduct section of the handbook, it states that students may be disciplined for their conduct outside of school in some instances.

For Aburto, reaching out to administrators was about more than this one incident on social media. During her time in the Greater Lowell area, she said it was a daily occurrence that people would make ignorant comments about her race. It's a culture Aburto said she does not want to continue.

"I'm more concerned about the situation because I care about where I grew up. I care about the environment," she said. "This kind of environment cannot happen anymore. People know better, but they just don't do better."

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